Entries in Adoption
(11)

Mark Sullivan/WireImage(NEW YORK) -- Stars from Snooki and Ben Stiller to Madonna and newlyweds Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel have been spotted giving back to the victims of superstorm Sandy, but now one star has announced she has taken something in to aid relief efforts on the East Coast.

Actress Denise Richards has added another animal to her well-documented brood of pets, adopting a dog from the North Shore Animal League in Long Island, N.Y., after an appearance there Friday to encourage others to take in the influx of abandoned pets displaced by the storm.

“Denise Richards visited North Shore Animal League America headquarters yesterday to provide vital help in spreading the word about our disaster relief efforts and encouraging adoptions,” the shelter, whose spokeswoman is Beth Stern, the wife of Howard Stern, posted on its Facebook page Saturday. “During their visit Denise and her family fell in love with Tara the Labrador Mutt-i-gree puppy and welcomed her into their home!”

Richards -- mom to two daughters, Lola and Sam with her ex-husband, Charlie Sheen, and a third daughter, Eloise, whom she adopted on her own -- has been in the New York City area for the past month filming the new pilot series Socio for the ABC Family Channel.

Last Thursday she tweeted, “Day off tomorrow. Heading to an animal shelter, to help out. Over 600 rescued from the hurricane. My girls are coming to help too.”

It was not immediately clear whether the puppy, which People.com reports Richards has renamed Lily, was one of the pets abandoned during Sandy or not. A call placed to the North Shore Animal League for comment was not immediately returned.

A call placed to Richards’ publicist was also not returned as of this writing.

Richards, 41, told People in 2010 that her friends call her “Dr. Doolittle” for her love of animals.

“I swear, if there’s a dog stranded somewhere, he finds my car, and he finds me,” she told the magazine. “If anyone is looking to get a dog, they ask, ‘Can you help me?’”

Jesse Grant/WireImage(NEW YORK) -- Queen Latifah may be busy in her professional life, but that doesn't mean she's not making plans for her personal life. On The View Wednesday, Latifah admitted that she's thinking of adopting.

When asked by co-host Barbara Walters if she has considered adoption, Queen Latifah, who is single, said, "I'm actually kind of working on that."

"I'm totally serious," the entertainer continued after a bit of pressing from Walters. "I think I saw one of those specials...you know those movies of the week. And it was like...I just always wanted to bring a child home."

Still, the 42-year-old actress is busy: she provides the voice of Ellie in Ice Age: Continental Drift, due in theaters Friday, produces VH1's Single Ladies and will produce and star in Lifetime's remake of the movie Steel Magnolias.

ABC/RANDY HOLMES(LOS ANGELES) -- Katherine Heigl and her husband, Josh Kelley, have adopted another daughter, according to People.com. The couple, who adopted 3-year-old Naleigh in 2009, has been outspoken about having more children.

“I used to want like six kids,” the former Grey’s Anatomy star told Ellen DeGeneres in January. But she decided that "three to four kids" was probably more like it.

The 33-year-old actress has said that growing up with an adopted sister made her want to adopt a baby of her own. She told Scholastic magazine in January 2012 that she discussed adoption with her now-musician-husband, Josh Kelley, 32, before they got engaged. “My sister Meg is Korean, and my parents adopted her three years before I was born. I wanted my own family to resemble the one I came from, so I always knew I wanted to adopt from Korea,” Heigl said. “We have talked about having biological children as well, but we decided to adopt first. I just wanted to be a mom. So however we do that, it’s fine with me.”

PRNewsFoto/Mercedes-Benz USA(NEW YORK) -- Actress Charlize Theron is now the "proud mom of a healthy baby boy named Jackson," according to a statement released by her publicist. No other details were released ,but one report said that the boy was adopted from South Africa, where Theron was born and raised.

This is the first child for the 36-year-old, who has been single since her split from actor Stuart Townsend in 2010. Theron has often spoken about her desire for children, but has also said that marriage was “never something that was important,” according to People.com

In her most recent film, Theron played a Kardashian-watching, Maker’s Mark-swilling, self-loathing 30-something in Young Adult -- not exactly great preparation for motherhood.

In an interview with ABC News Now’s Popcorn with Peter Travers, Theron talked about preparing to play an unhappy couch potato, which involved many DVDs of MTV’s My Super Sweet 16.

“It was the most horrifying show I had ever seen in my entire life,” she said. “I seriously want people to watch that as birth control. I don’t want to have a child when I watch that show. There’s some 16-year-old girl crying, having a small stroke, because she got the wrong color Range Rover and her party only cost a half a million dollars.”

Theron won an Oscar for her role as female serial killer Aileen Wuornos in the film Monster.

ADRIAN SANCHEZ-GONZALEZ/AFP/Getty Images(LOS ANGELES) -- Former The Biggest Loser trainer Jillian Michaels is reportedly in the process of adopting a baby from Haiti.

The fitness celebrity announced in 2010 that she wanted to focus on starting a family and now she tells Access Hollywood Live, “I’ve been matched with a baby girl.”

Michaels is holding off on any celebrations for now, fearing that it could take up to a year to bring the baby home. “Anything could happen,” she says, “so it’s kind of premature for me to say but that’s where it’s at.”

Michaels warns that if the adoption falls through she probably won’t be seen outside of her house for months because she'll be devastated.

According to People, Hargitay and husband Peter Hermann adopted a girl, Amaya Josephine, six months ago, and have just adopted a baby boy named Andrew Nicholas.

“We never in a million years thought it would happen this quickly, but something inside us knew that this was right, and we said, ‘Yes, yes, yes!'" the actress exclaimed. The couple also has a 5-year-old son named August.

German Shepherd Rescue(LONDON) -- Berry, the 10-year-old black German Shepherd that played Padfoot in the Harry Potter movies, is up for adoption, and the requests are streaming in, many from the U.S.

His owner, stuntman and trainer Paul Thompson, gave Berry to England’s German Shepherd Rescue in July along with a white 13-year-old German Shepherd named Porridge. The two dogs, who grew up together, must be adopted as a pair.

“[Berry] was given up for rescue because the gentleman couldn’t afford to keep him anymore and his companion,” said Jane O’Brien, who fields inquiries for German Shepherd Rescue. The two dogs were immediately put into a safe foster home but now need a permanent place to live.

On the organization’s website, Berry’s bio reads: “My Dad contacted German Shepherd Dog Rescue because he realized he didn’t have the time to look after us properly anymore. His work takes him away from home an awful lot and whilst his friends and family tried to help look after us, we weren’t getting the walks or brushes we were used to.”

“They’re very classy animals,” O’Brien said of Berry and his pal Porridge. “Very quiet, well-behaved.”

Ever since the U.K.’s Sunday Express first publicized the dogs’ plight, O’Brien said, “Berry has been offered so many homes it’s unbelievable.”

Lizzy Brown, one of the organization’s dog coordinators, estimates at least 100 people have offered to take the dogs so far, many of them from the United States.

But it’s more likely this pair will find a home in the U.K.

“At their age we wouldn’t consider shipping them overseas,” Brown said.

Both pooches have a condition called chronic degenerative radiculomyelopathy, or CDRM, which makes it difficult for them to walk, but “Berry’s not nearly as bad,” said Brown. “He just needs to build his muscle up and lose some weight.”

German Shepherd Rescue currently has 400 unpaid volunteers throughout the U.K., and at least 150 dogs looking for loving homes. Those interested in adopting can visit the website and fill out an adoption form.

For Berry, Porridge and all the German Shepherds available for adoption, there are a few criteria that must be met before the rescue agency approves the dog’s new family:

The dogs may not live with children under 7 years old.

No apartments.

The dogs should not be in any situation where they are left for more than four hours on their own, because the breed is subject to anxiety.

ABC/Lou Rocco(NEW YORK) -- Whoopi Goldberg has given a cat another life.

The Oscar-winning actress and co-host of ABC's The View has adopted a cat that was thrown from a moving car on New York City's Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, according to New York Animal Care & Control officials.

Officials said Goldberg was one of the first of more than 140 people to ask to adopt the cat, nicknamed "Verrazano" by AC&C. She has since shortened the kitten's name to "Vinny."

The Russian blue kitten was thrown from a car crossing the 4,260-foot-long bridge in early July and was rescued by an AC&C official who happened to be driving by. Vinny quickly became an Internet celebrity and made an appearance on the July 10 edition of The View before Goldberg adopted him. Smitten, she burrowed her face in his belly.

"I feel that I should have a conversation with Oliver when I get home," she said on the show, referring to her other cat, also a Russian blue, "because I think he needs a friend."